Scofflaw Democrats

By John Hinderaker at PowerLine:

“We have written repeatedly about the fact that the Senate Democrats are not just being irresponsible when they fail to adopt a budget, they are breaking the law. The Budget Act of 1974 requires the House and Senate to meet certain deadlines, culminating in the adoption of a budget resolution. The Republican House has obeyed the law, but the Democratic Senate has thumbed its nose at the statute, illegally refusing to meet any of the statutory deadlines or to adopt any budget at all for the last three years.

The Senate’s scofflaw ways are shared by the Obama administration. Federal law requires the Medicare trustees to report annually on the solvency of the Medicare program. The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 further provides that if, for two years in a row, more than 45% of Medicare funding is coming from general revenues rather than Medicare taxes, the president must submit legislation to Congress to address the Medicare funding crisis. President Bush dutifully followed the law, but President Obama has ignored it for the last three years.

Today was the deadline for Obama to comply with the Medicare Modernization Act by submitting a plan to rescue Medicare’s finances. Obama, of course, has no intention of doing anything to reform entitlements. So, for the fourth year in a row, he chose to act illegally. He did nothing.

Earlier today, I was on a call with Senator Jeff Sessions, and I asked what can be done to hold the Democrats accountable for their wanton law-breaking. Unfortunately, the statutes in question contain no sanctions or enforcement mechanisms. The only real recourse is to public opinion. For that recourse to be meaningful, Americans would need to know that their president and the Democratic Senate believe that they need comply with the law only when it is convenient for them. Unfortunately, the press has no interest in publicizing the fact that the Democrats are scofflaws. So the Democrats ignore the law, secure in the knowledge that their secret is safe with the national media.”